Edward bbice killeii



E. B. KILLEN. RUBBERV URE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29, l9l8.

Patented Aug, 5, 1919.

f Il,

UNITED #STATES PATENT oEEiicE.

EDWARD BRICE KILLEN, OF LONDGN, ENGLAND.

RUBBER TIRE.

Application mea'June 29,

To all whom 'z'z 'mrlj/ conrwrn Be it known that I, EDWARD Buien IUL- LEN. of 2T Queen Victoria street, London` ,or bonding rim by `sis f at each side of the eXtreme narrow E. C. 4, England. engineer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rubber rTires, of which the following is a specification.

his invention relates to the manufac ture of what I call cushion tires as distinct from inflated air tube tires. In this tire I prefer to attach the tire to its wheel so that the air within the tire when fitted over the wheel is at atmospheric pressure but confined, the tire requiring no inner air tube, air valve or pump. Under certain conditions this type of tire ma)Y be used without the air being confined, but the tire is not then so elicient as when the air is confined.

In the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a cross section of a tire made in accordance with and embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross section illustrating a modified form of the tire.

Fig. 3 is a cross section illustrating a modified form of tire with a wide base at' tached by say vulcanite to endless metal base rims and airtightly attached to a wheel great compression.

the tire shown in Fig.

Fig. 1t is a plan of fully referred to and 2. all hereafter more described.

My construction with reference to the drawings isas follows An important feature about my new construction of tire is the tread, which has great give or sho-ir absorbing qualities when in road contact. lhe tread is manufactured in cross section of gable-like formation, see Figs. 1, 2 and 3,. with a narrow extreme treading circumference 1 which is preferably fiatin' cross section at the top of the gable, the tread having two effective widths, which I will call the narrow treading part 1,- and the wide treading part 2 3 of the tire. The narrow extreme treading part of the tire is preferably manufactured with` out cavities, and may be say or. of the treads maximum width at 2 3.A The wide gable-like part of the tread 2-3 automatically comes 'into action as and when required and has preferably treading cavities and groove .spaces 4, 5, 6, 7 and 17 formed treading part, see Figs. .1 and 2 and 3. This narrow extreme treading part l is capable ofy giv- Specitlcaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

191s. serial no. 242,620.

ing much in road contact under all ing conditions without the rubber in the tire being stretched and without interfering with the ability of thetire to carry its required load. In say a 6 inch wide tire, this narrow extreme treading part may be manufactured about 1 inch wide, see Figs. 1 and 2. but when brought into road contact-.it automatically becomes in eil-'ect much wider, changing in effective width from 1 inches. as and when required, and when the tire is manufactured say 8 to 12 inches wide, see Fig. 3. the narrow extreme tread may be n'ianufactured 2 or more inches wide. and becomeA in effect, when in road Contact, say G to 10 inches wide according to the type of tire manufactured, but under all conditions the narrow treading part of the tire 1 comes into tracti-onal contact with the hard road surface and remains in close tractional Contact with the hard road surface while the 'widest part 2-3 of the tread comes in and goes out of road contact.

In all my tires I mold within the tread an endless inner air chamber 8 which in cross section is preferably of gable-like formation. although not. strictly triangular in shape. the apex or extreme circumference of the endless air chamber being constructed with a blunt portion 9, which may have an inwardly projecting ridge 10. the blunt portion being molded say inch to 1 inch in width. or say half the width of the narrow extreme treading part 1 of the tire. Further. the endless gable-like air chamber is preferablyv formed so that its two converging sides of walis-l and .12. as they approach each other (when form-ing the blunt apex 9 of theendiess air chamber) are curved. see Fig. 2, the internal surfaces or walls of the air chamber being constructed So that the distortion and thickeningl of the walls under a load or shock does not develop serious frictional contact of theinternal wall surfaces. The Ibase 13 of the gablelike air chamber 8 may be two to five times wider than the biunt apex 9 according to the type of tire manufactured. and the wider the base part 13 of the gable-like air chambeu'is, (after constructing the tire walls and their base foundation of proper strength and thickness vto carry the required loads) the greater is the give or resilience of the tire in road contact. The tire is preferably worlrinch to 2, 3 or 4 eonstrueted so that it is capable of being rigidly1 and air-tightly attached to a wheel, the endless air chamber r4 within the tire becoming when the tire is attached, an ail'- tight chamber. see Figs. l and 2. or the airtight ehamber may he arranged by fitting the tire under eompression to the metal bed ot' a bonding rim or wheel in any wellknown manner. see Fig. il. 'l`he eontined air within the tire gives to the tire a greater fre queney of repose llian if the air. was not eolifined` thereby increasing! the tires maximum speed. besides giving many other ad 'antages to the'tire. This type ot' tire has the advantages ot a stron ,r narrow effective4 tread 1 without its disadvantages. and the advantages ot a strong wide etl'eetive tread 2-l$ without itsl diszulvantages when in road contact, the narrow part or extreme eireumference ot' the tread 1 having much more give or resiliency than the right and left edges 2 and 3 of the tread. The narrow extreme part ot' the tread l may be two to tive inrhes more in diameter than the right. and left edges ol the tread '.2 and 3. according to t-he type of tire iii=ini1taetiii-e l. and its construction enables said narrow treading part 1 to come into efl'ective road contact and'bo pnt under compression before the maximum width of the tread 2 and 3 at the same spot can possibly come into eii'eetive use, enablint,r a great flat tread surface eirenmterentially to he formed in road contact automatically u nder ordinary and abnormal working conditions, and this eireumterential fiat surface in road contact enables more inches of tire wall eireumterentially to be, brought into effective use to carry excessive. loads and take abnormal shot-ks. without injuringthe tire.v and in addition to the great number of inches ot' tire wall eireumferentially brought into effective use` the-maximum width of the tread 2-3 comes into et'- feetive use with increase of load orAshoek. ln other words. the tire. is automatically strengthened und widened in eti'ect as and when required when-say passing over potholes, mounting: curbstones, turning' corners sharply, running over tramway lines. or when the brakes are suddenly applied, or in fact when the tires are subjected to those abnormal working eonditions which prematurelv destroy existing tires.

I wish it to be elearly understood that the gablwlike treading eircumference of my tire loses its original molded shape. when brought. into' road contact. and becomes more or less fiat, instead of ,gable-like. in cross section, the displaced rubber under distortion flowing or spewing into cavities o r spaces prepared Jfor its reception. It ls also to be noted that. not only does the. sensitive wide,

gable-like treading eircumtereme. ofthe tire. .M become practically flatl In cross seetion. but the distortable rubber walls of the tire 1.1 and 15 thicken and spew internally :md externally with increase of load.

This. type of tire enables great give in the tire, is carrying maximum loads and taking: abnormal shocks,

Suitable cavities 1, 5, li and 7 say one inch wide are preferably molded at eaeh side of the, narrow extreme treading part of the tire. eaeh of which in plan may form a right-angled parallelogram, see Figa 4, havinj`r preterablv blunt angles to prevent seri- Q ons frietional contact of surfaces. These cavities may be molded in plan in two circumferential rows, at each side of the narrow treading,r part of the tire 1, these cavities alternating with each other transversely of the tire tread, the said cavities and the.

intervening transverse ribs being of equal width, .and are staggered so that the cavitties on one. side ot' the narrow. tread end on the saine cross section line .Where the others begin. see Fig. 4, the narrow extreme treading part 1 being formed to lie between the four rows of cavities 4, ti and' 7, see

Figi. l. and so' that the rubber in the eX.- treme treadingr part of the tire is capable ot' flowing or beingpartly'spe-wed inte theI cavities l, (S. and 7 when displaced in road contact. This narrow treading part l ot' the tire is capable ot easily passing through road grease or mud and gettirw into direct biting contact with the hardA road surface, thel grease and mud passing;

Iwe

into the cavities, el, 5, 6 and 7 at earh side -of the narrow tread, thereby forn'iing ai good non-skid device without the use of steel studs, and the depth of the cavity from its right or obtuse angle lt (which is preterably madeI blunt, see Figs. 1 2 and 4) te its open base,i may be about to il of an inch according to the type of tire manutan tnred. In `Ifart with this type of tire, 'deep cavities like 4, 5, (i `and 7, or circumferential groove spaces like '17- of any well-known shape may be suitably molded on the Wide gable-like. tread, and when re uired, steel studshaving say a fabric or ot er foundation may be. suitably secured on the tread. The base. or inner circumferential parts of this type of titre may be constructed in dift'erent ways, but l always prefer that said base. is so constructed` as to be capable of being'air tightly attached t0 a Wluiel. The tire. may be manufactured having metal in its base, the rubber valls being attached to the. metal by means of say vulcanite or its equivalent, in say a manner somewhat similar to the way metal is attached to the base lll) 'Uli

of existing solid rubber band tires, see Figs. 2 and I), and under such conditions, 1 may use two suitable endless metal foundation bands 18 and 19, Fig. 3, or 21, Fig. 2, with a suitable rough surfaceon each foundation baud, the rubber forming the two walls of the tire being efficiently attached during manufacture to each metal foundation band, thereby having a suitable metal foundation and unstretchable base part on each tire wall` and fabric 20 may be used in addition 'to the endless metal rims to stifl'en and strengthen the outside base part of the walls of said tire when required. see Fig. There is no diiiculty7 in molding the endless gable-like air chamber 8 with its wide base part 13 within the tire by means of a suitable divisible core, which is easily extracted from the tire after manufacture. The airtight attachment-of the tire to its wheel may be made by having a suitable layer of rubber 21a say-,1E inch thick, formed on the inner circumference of each of the metal foundation bands 18 and 19. These forni the inner base part of each tire wall, so that by fitting the tire under compression to a metal bonding rim or over a wheel 35, see Fig. 3,.l

the tire is airtightly attached to the wheel` and in order to keep the two tire walls with their metal foundations in correct relative position to each other when fitting the tire under compression over a wheel, may use suitable detachable metal spacing'or distance pieces formed to the proper arc of a circle, and lit same between the two nietal base foundations of the tire walls, see Figs. 2 and 3. The sides of the metal distance pieces lie snugly in cavities 23, 24, formed on the endless metal base bands 18, 1S) and-21 of the tire, prepared for their reception. Or i may manufacture the tire without metal at its base part, constructing the base beads of each tire with hooking heels and extended toes, using fabric to strengtlieu and stiften the base part and inner circumference of each base bead, see Fig. 1, and attach the tire airtightly to a wheel by means of an endless airtight metal rim 25, which is fitted and floated within the tire on the tires extended toes, see Fig. l, in combination with suitable hooking metal clamping flanges or rims 28, 29, 30 and 31 with bolts and nuts, as used in some existing types of tires.

l also preferably mold protecting ribs or buffers of rubber 26, 27, on the outside of the tire walls about 1% to 2% inches from the tires extreme inner base circumference, which rubber ribs preferably lie outside the tire`s metal retaining rims. These rubber ribs forni the widest part of the tire and not only stiften and strengthen the base part of each tire wall, but they protect the metal retaining rims it? and 19, see Fig. 3. of the tire, or the cxtreme metal clamping flanges or rims 28, 29, 30 and 31, of the wheel, from ency to be obtained in the tire, so that tires vhaving a wide base will be more resilient than tires with a narrow base. For chassis work. on ordinary roads when the widtlrof the tire is under S inches, I may make the height of the tire in cross section from :2O to 10W/7fless than its width, see Figs. 1 and 0 'and when the width of' the tire is over 8 inches and used on the road on heavy' chassis, the tires height in cross section may be less than half its width. see Fig. 3.

The thickness of the rubber in'the tread between the apex of the endless air chamber and the tires extreme treading circumference may be from 1 to 3 inches. and the thickness of the tire walls (which are not manufactured uniform in thickness throughout their height), may vary from to inches according to the type of tire maiuifactured. The tire may be manutactured having three special widths` namely the narrow treading width 1. the wide gablelike treading width Q and the extremetire width. rThe latter is that part of the tire where protecting ribs or buffers of rubber 26, I', are molded to protect the metal rims referred to above, or the tire may be manu'- facturcd having only two wi'dths namely the narrow treading width and the wide gableiike treading width, the lattei being then the Same as the width of the protecting buffers 27 of rubber molded at cach side of the tire, see Fig. 3.

'Vhen fitting the tire airtightly to its wheel` I prefer using a small quantity of graphite or such like material, which is fitted within the endless airtight chamber, and tends to preserve the rubber of the tire under severe working coi'iditions,

` It is to be specially' noted that all my tires are preferably manufactured capable of being airtightly attached to a wheel, see Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and when attaching the tireto its wheel for light traffic, i prefer using a wheel the outer circumference of which forms a clamping device, see Figs. 1 and 2, and so that the tire may he easily mounted on and demounted from the wheel by using say bolts and nuts, the endless air chamber being made an airtight chamber by bringing the right and left clamping flanges or outer wheel circumference parts suitably together,

and when required having an endless air,

liim-nsions to suit tho work Jfor which the tiril is nmmllinchlrell.

Chiim.

A ruhlwr tiro having: :u1 internal air chnmhor mul consti-110ml in cross section with thru` spot-inl widths. :L relatively narrow flut extrvnw circumferentinl tread part, n relatively wide gable-like tread" part in# side of luid izlt trend pau-t, md mbber ribs o1' buffers which form the Widest inner part 15 of the tire, said gable-like tread part having transverse cavities and intervening ribs of equal width and which are staggered' or alternated with each other on opposite Sifdes of said fiat tread part, substantially as de- 20 scribed.

In testimony whereof l affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD BRICE KILLEN.

Witnesses:

J @HN LIDDLE, JOHN TRAIN LDDLE. 

